Fully Customizable Mobile Greeting Card App

ABSTRACT

A system is provided for downloading a fully customizable greeting card application to a mobile device such as a tablet, the application simulating the behavior of a child making handmade cards with blank paper and physical drawing tools and other decorative effects. The application allows a user to create a card from a variety of pre-designed greeting card templates or to fully customize three full pages of a blank greeting card. A completed greeting card may be electronically mailed to one or more email recipients or one or more copies of the greeting card can be ordered and purchased from within the application and may be printed and sent from a remote fulfillment facility to one or more specified recipients. The application contains parental controls for ordering and purchasing the greeting cards while not interfering with a child&#39;s ability to fully express their creativity through various in-app drawing tools and available effects.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/969,335, filed on Mar. 24, 2014. This application isalso a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/460,045, filed on Apr. 30, 2012, which is a non-provisional of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/481,028, filed on Apr. 29, 2011and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/486,050, filed on May 13,2011. Each of the above-referenced patent applications is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of social expression products andmore specifically, fully customizable electronic greeting cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure and related inventions is directed to anelectronic greeting card application for mobile devices. The applicationis geared toward children but may be used in a variety of circumstancesby children and adults alike. It provides users with the ability tocreate a greeting card using pre-loaded greeting card designs in variousgreeting card categories or to create a fully customizable greeting cardcompletely from scratch. To facilitate user customization of thegreeting cards, the application provides a suite of drawing tools,design elements, and also provides the ability to upload photos or otherpersonal digital effects. A digital signature can be used to sign thegreeting card in the user's own handwriting. Once a greeting card hasbeen designed and customized by a user, he/she can either send thegreeting card electronically to a recipient or he/she may choose to havethe greeting card printed at a remote location and sent either tothemselves or to one or more greeting card recipients.

The present disclosure and related inventions also provide a way forparents to allow children to be creative and create a fully (orpartially) customized greeting card without having the expense ofpurchasing the wide array of drawing tools available from within thedigital application. It is also a way to keep things tidy with noclean-up required once the child is done crafting his/her personalizedcreation. An actual physical representation of the child's greeting cardcan be realized by purchasing one or more copies of said card andsending same to one or more selected recipients.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary embodiment of the home screen of the app of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2A is an exemplary embodiment of the “Pick-a-Card” grid viewscreen.

FIG. 2B is an exemplary embodiment of the “Pick-a-Card” single viewscreen.

FIG. 3A is an exemplary embodiment of the first page of a greeting cardselected through the “Pick-a-Card” option.

FIG. 3B is an exemplary embodiment of the first page of the greetingcard of FIG. 3A in edit mode.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary embodiment of an inside page of a greeting cardselected through the Pick-a-Card” option with text entry and digitalsignature features.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary embodiment of an inside page of a greeting cardselected through the “Pick-a-Card” option, with picture adding feature.

FIG. 6A is an exemplary embodiment of the front page of a greeting cardselected through the “Make-a-Card” option, with partial (first half)tool carousel.

FIG. 6B is an exemplary embodiment of the front page of a greeting cardselected through the “Make-a-Card” option, with partial (second half)tool carousel.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Make-a-Card” color carousel.

FIG. 8A is an exemplary embodiment of the “Make-a-Card” add (keyboard)text screen.

FIG. 8B is an exemplary embodiment of the card of FIG. 8A with textadded via drawing tool.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary embodiment of a “Make-a-Card” greeting card panelwith drawing and stamps added, and stamp carousel.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary embodiment of the rear “Make-a-Card” greetingcard panel.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Cards Read to Send” screen.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary embodiment of a screen indicating thatparental/adult involvement is necessary.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary embodiment of a screen which requires aparental/adult touch screen gesture.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary embodiment of the parental/adult “Sign-In”screen.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary embodiment of the parental/adult “Confirmation”screen.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Address/Envelope” screen.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Review Order” screen.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Payment” screen.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Parental Dashboard”.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary embodiment of the “Settings” screen.

FIG. 21 is a flow diagram of an exemplary system environment forelectronically merchandising and delivering greeting card templates andapp updates over the internet.

FIG. 22 is a flow diagram of an exemplary system environment for sendinguser-created designs through the order process.

FIG. 23 is a flow diagram of an exemplary app user experience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS

The fully customizable greeting card application of the presentinvention provides an electronic option for children to createcustomized greeting cards. The application simulates the existingbehavior of children making customized handmade greeting cards fromblank, foldable paper, using a variety of physical drawing tools suchas, for example, crayons and markers to write or draw upon said paper,and using a plurality of embellishments, such as, for example, stickersand stamps to further embellish and add a personal touch to the greetingcard. The completed greeting card can be sent electronically to one ormore greeting card recipients or the completed greeting card can beordered as an in-app purchase and remotely printed and sent via the U.S.Postal Service to one or more greeting card recipients. While thegreeting card and associated application is described herein as beingdirected to children and described as simulating a child's behavior increating a handmade greeting card, it is contemplated that theapplication is adaptable to a wide variety of situations and uses and itis intended that the application may be used by users of any age.

The application has been described herein as being a mobile applicationfor download to a mobile computing device, such as an Apple iPad®.However, the application may be used with other mobile devices such as asmart phone, other tablet computers, laptop computers, and the like.Also, other types of tablet computers such as the Samsung Galaxy®, theMicrosoft Surface® and others can be used. The application can be usedwith any computing device having a touch screen. The program may bemanipulated by the use of a user's finger or by a stylus or other touchcapacitive device.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical terms used herein have the samemeaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the artto which this invention applies. The examples set forth herein areintended to describe particular embodiments only and are not intended tolimit the invention in any way.

The term “software” or “computer program” as used herein includes, butis not limited to: one or more computer or machine readable and/orexecutable instructions that cause a computer, microprocessor, logiccircuit, or other electronic device to perform functions, actions and/orbehave in a desired manner. The instructions may be embodied in variousforms such as routines, algorithms, modules or programs includingseparate applications or code from dynamically linked libraries.Software may also be implemented in various forms such as stand-aloneprograms, apps, a function call, a servlet, an applet, instructionsstored in a memory or any other computer readable medium, part of anoperating system o other type of executable instructions. It will beappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the form ofsoftware is dependent on, for example, requirements of a desiredapplication, the environment it runs on, and/or the desires of adesigner/programmer or the like.

“Mobile application” or “Mobile App” or “App” as used herein, includes,but is not limited to: applications that run on smart phones, tabletcomputers and other mobile devices. The terms “mobile application”,“mobile app” and “app” can be used synonymously with “software”. Mobileapplications allow users to connect to services which are traditionallyavailable on a desktop or notebook platforms. Typically, these servicesaccess the internet or intranet or cellular or wireless fidelitynetworks to access, retrieve, transmit and share data.

The terms “computer”, “processor” or “processing unit” as used herein,includes, but is not limited to: any programmed or programmableelectronic device, microprocessor, logic unit that can store, retrieveand process data.

The term “network” as used herein includes, but is not limited to: acollection of hardware components and computer or machinesinterconnected by communications channels that allow sharing ofresources and information, including, without limitation, the worldwideweb or the internet.

The term “web browser” as used herein, includes, but is not limited to:a software for retrieving and presenting information resources on theWorld Wide Web. An information resource may be a web page, an image, avideo, or any other type of electronic content.

The term “server” as used herein, includes, but is not limited to: acomputer or machine or a device on a network that manages networkresources. The general term “server” may include specific types ofservers such as a file server (a computer and storage device dedicatedto storing files), a print server (a computer that manages one or moreprinters), a network server (a computer than manages network traffic),and a database server (a computer system that processes databasequeries). Although servers are frequently dedicated to performing onlyserver tasks, certain multiprocessing operating systems allow a serverto manage other non-server related resources. A “web server” as usedherein, includes, but is not limited to: a server which serves contentto a web browser by lading a file from a disk and serving it across anetwork to a user's web browser, typically using a hyper-text transferprotocol (HTTP).

“API files” or “API” or “Application Programming Interface” as usedherein, includes, but is not limited to: an interface between differentsoftware programs or software files which facilitate the interaction ofthe different software programs or software files by way of a specificset of rules and specifications.

“Electronic Greeting Card”, “e-greeting”, “e-greeting card” or “e-card”,as used herein, includes, but is not limited to any greeting card, or apersonalized message or a message which delivers a pieces ofcommunication from one user to another user or non-user throughelectronic media.

Downloading the App

Once downloaded, the app of the present invention provides the user withthe option of creating a customized greeting card by starting out with apre-loaded greeting card template (“Pick a Card” 12) or by providing ablank slate, akin to a blank piece of paper, which a user may fullycustomize (“Make a Card” 10). As shown in FIG. 1, the “home” screenprovides the user with both create-a-card options plus give the useraccess to the “Cards Ready to Send” 14 screen, where previously madegreeting cards are saved and the “Where's My Card?’ 16 screen, whichprovides the status of previously sent greeting cards. The “Where's MyCard” 16 feature is inaccessible until there are cards which have beensent to order. These features will be discussed in further detail below.

“Pick-a-Card”

If the user chooses to create a greeting card using a pre-loadedgreeting card template (the “Pick a Card” 12 option), the user is givena variety of greeting card categories 18 from which to choose a suitablegreeting card template. These greeting card categories 18 may include,but are not limited to: birthday; get well; miss you; thank you; andseasonal holiday cards such as, for example, Christmas, Easter,Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day. Photo cards are alsoavailable in a separate category and are represented by a “Say Cheese”camera icon. The “Pick a Card” 12 function can be presented to the uservia a grid view, shown in FIG. 2A, wherein the front face of a varietygreeting card templates 20 are shown on the screen and selectable by theuser. The user may scroll up and down the grid view by swiping up ordown on the touch screen. Alternately, the “Pick a Card” 12 function canbe presented in a single card view, shown in FIG. 2B, by selecting the“grid” icon 21B on the upper right side of the screen (user can likewiseswitch back to the single card view by tapping the “single” icon 21A)wherein the front face of a single greeting card 20 template is shown onthe screen at a time and the user can iterate through each template byswiping left or right, on a card-by-card basis. The greeting cards 20are visualized on a carousel of greeting cards which can be browsed withthe swipe of a finger. Each greeting card 20 has a pre-defined “restingpoint” on the carousel which it will “snap” into if close enoughthereto. Snapping into this point may also activate information pop-upsand voiceovers to let the user know what can be done with eachparticular card. In both the grid view and the single card view, a groupof icons representing various greeting card categories 18 is shown atthe bottom portion of the screen. The user may select a category 18 fromthe carousel, upon which the main content area of the carousel will berefreshed only with greeting cards 20 which fall into the categoryselected by the user. Since many users of the application may bechildren below an age at which they can read, heavy use of iconographyand voiceover are used to aid in navigation (e.g. smiley face for “thankyou”, heart for Valentine's Day, etc.). The user may swipe his/herfinger to the right or to the left to view, select, and navigate betweenany of the available greeting cards 20. For example, a user may swipe tothe right to move from the first card to the least card, while the usermay swipe left to move from the last card to the first card. Whilebrowsing through the available greeting card templates 20, a user mayselect a particular greeting card template 20 by tapping on theparticular card in order to view the inside greeting card sentimentand/or artwork. The user is able to easily navigate through each page ofthe greeting card 20 by interacting with the user interface. Since theuser interface is a touch screen, the user may tap on a greeting card 20to open the selected card's interactive view. The application depicts aconventional, folded four page paper card having four pages, including afront cover page (page 1 P1), a left inside page (page 2 P2), a rightinside page (page 3 P3) and a rear page (page 4 P4). The greeting card20 may, in other embodiments contain less than four pages, such as one,two or three pages, or the greeting card may contain multiple greetingcard pages which include embodiments with greater than four pages. Thisdisclosure will refer to the preferred embodiment as having four pages,although other numbers of pages have been contemplated and areconsidered to be within the scope of the present invention. To movebetween the various pages P1-P4 of the greeting card 20, the user maytap and drag the greeting card panel P1-P4 to either the left or theright. For example, the user may tap and drag from right to left of page1 P1, to view the inside right page (page 3 P3) of the greeting card. Toview the inside left page (page 2 P2) from the inside right page (page 3P3) the user may tap page 3 P3 and drag from right to left. To move backto the inside right page (page 3 P3) the user may tap page 2 P2 and dragfrom left to right. To move to the rear page (page 4 P4) with page 2 P2facing forward, the user may tap page 3 P3 and drag from right to left.Once the user finds an appropriate greeting card 20, he/she can selectthe “Personalize” icon to begin adding personalized sentiment to theselected greeting card template 20. Once the user has chosen topersonalize a particular greeting card 20, the greeting card appears inan “edit” view wherein the user my iterate through the greeting cardpages P1-P4 by tapping the right 22R or left 22L arrows contained on thesides of each greeting card page. Each greeting card template 20contains specified areas on the greeting card 20 which can bepersonalized by the user. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the frontpage P1 of a birthday greeting card 20 may contain an editable text box24 into which the user can enter the greeting card recipient's name.Other greeting cards 20 may contain text editable portions which containan icon such as a pencil and/or a phrase such as “Tap to Write aMessage”, indicating to the user where to tap on the template to beginadding personalized text or data. Once the user taps onto the editableportion of the template, a virtual keyboard 26 appears and he or she mayadd the recipient's name or other personalized text sentiment, as shownin FIG. 3B. The inside pages of the greeting card may contain additionaltext boxes for adding text sentiment. One example, shown in FIG. 4A,contains a text box on the inside right panel of the greeting cardindicated by the text box 24, “typewriter” icon 28 and the phrase “Tapto Write Message”. Tapping into this box 24 will cause the virtualkeyboard 26 to appear on the screen so the user can enter a textmessage. Also on this page is a box 30 with a “pencil” icon 32 and thephrase “Tap to Sign Your Card”. When the user taps into this box 30,he/she is able to add his/her digital signature. The user will first beprompted to select a line width in which he/she would like his/hersignature to appear. Then he/she can sign his/her signature on the box30 with his/her finger. The user may tap the “trash can” icon locatedbelow the signature box to erase his/her signature, or he/she may tapthe “done” icon to return to the greeting card. Other editable areas 34of the greeting card template are indicated as being able to accept auser-uploaded picture or other digital data. These editable areas 34 maybe indicated by a camera icon 36 or the phrase “Tap to Add a Picture”,as shown in FIG. 5. Simply tapping on this section 34 of the templatewill initiate the upload process by displaying a search screen ontowhich the user can enter or select the path and select the specific filewhich the user wants to upload to the greeting card template 20.Alternatively, the application may allow the user to take a picture withthe camera on the portable device and use said picture in the greetingcard 20. During the editing process, a set of icons is available to theuser along a top portion of the template or screen which allow the userto save a particular template (“disk” icon 40), to delete data entered(“trash can” icon 38) into a particular template, to zoom in on(“magnifying glass” icon 42) a particular area of a selected template,or to finish editing the greeting card (“done” icon 46). When the useris satisfied with the greeting card, he/she can select the “done” icon46 to be taken directly to the “Cards Ready to Send” 14 screen whereinthe completed greeting card 20, along with any other saved (but not yetsent) greeting cards 20 will appear.

“Make-a-Card”

If the user chooses to create a fully customizable blank greeting card50 from scratch (the “Make a Card” option), he/she will be presentedwith a blank screen symbolizing the cover page P1 of the greeting card50, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The first three pages P1-P3 of theblank greeting card 50 are fully customizable, wherein the first threepages P1-P3 are completely blank until the user adds text, artwork, aphoto or other digital upload, or a combination thereof. Each page ofthe first three pages P1-P3 of the blank greeting card 50 is separatelycustomizable to simulate the drawing of a paper greeting card whereineach page is separately personalized. The application may “auto save”between pages. An “up” arrow (“A”) 48U at the bottom of the screen canbe selected which reveals a suite of tools 52 available to the user, asshown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The suite of tools 52 (also referred to hereininterchangeably as “tool box” or “tool carousel”) will appear as ascroll or carousel across the bottom portion of the screen. Iconsrepresenting the various tools 52A-52N appear in a row along thecarousel 52. The user can scroll through the carousel 52 by movinghis/her finger left and right along the carousel. The drawing toolsinclude, but are not limited to: fat paintbrush 52A; thin paintbrush52B; thin paintbrush 52C; regular pencil 52D; crayon 52E; colored pencil52F; marker 52G; tube of paint 52K and chalk 52H. Selecting a specificdrawing tool 52A-52N will reveal a plurality of the chosen drawing tool52A-52N in various colors. For example, if the “crayon” icon 52E isselected from the tool carousel 52, the selections on the carouselchange into a plurality of crayons 52E, each of a different color asshown in FIG. 6C. To draw with a particular colored crayon 52E, the usersimply picks (taps) the crayon 52E and begins to draw or write withhis/her finger on the blank greeting card 50, as shown in FIG. 7. Tochange back to a different drawing tool 52A-52N, the user can select the“back” arrow 54 to return to the original suite of tools 52. The toolcarousel 52 is hidden from view while the user is editing the greetingcard 50 with a selected tool 52. It can also be manually removed orhidden from the screen by selecting the “down” arrow (“

”) 48D. Also, as mentioned above, while the user is editing the greetingcard 50, to move between pages P1-P4 of the greeting card 50, the usermust use the “right” 22R or “left” 22L arrow, located at the right andleft side of the greeting card 50. As shown in FIG. 8A, the user caninsert a text box 56 for inserting text from the virtual keyboard 26 byselecting the “ABC” icon 52L from the tool carousel. As shown in FIG.8B, the user may also write text sentiment by selecting one of the manydrawing tools 52A-52N. The user may also use one of the many drawingtools 52A-52N to draw a picture 58, and add other decorative effects byusing the stamp feature 52N, as shown in FIG. 9. The tool carousel 52located across the bottom of the screen (shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B) givesthe user the option of selecting from various tools 52A-52N to decoratepages one (1) through three (3) P1-P3 of the blank greeting card 50. Forexample, in addition to the drawing tools mentioned above the toolcarousel 52 may additionally contain, but is not limited to: a “camera”icon 52M (for uploading a personal photo); a “sticker” icon 52N (foradding various stickers); an “ABC” icon 52L (for adding text sentiment);a “stamp” icon 52N (for adding decorative stamps); a “frame” icon 52M(for adding a frame around a photo). The user can add text via a pop-upkeyboard 26 by selecting the “ABC” icon 52L from the tool carousel 52.The user may alternatively use his/her finger to draw text onto thecard. Selecting the “camera” icon 52M allows a user to either upload apicture from his/her mobile device or to take a picture with his/herdevice and then add said picture to the greeting card 50. Once a picturehas been uploaded, the user may edit the photo by using various touchscreen gestures. For example, a user may pinch or stretch the screen tozoom or place and turn two or more fingers on the photo to rotate ortilt the photo. The “stamp” 52N or “sticker” 521 icon can be used to adda variety of stamps 52N or stickers 521 onto the greeting card 50 byfirst selecting, for example, the “stamp” icon 52N. Then, the toolcarousel 52 will change into the various stamp options 52N. Afterselecting a particular stamp 52N, the user may then just tap on aparticular area of the card 50 to place the stamp 52N on that area (asshown in FIG. 9). The “sticker” option 521 is used in the same manner.There may be some special stickers 521 on the sticker carousel whichhave a cost associated therewith. These stickers 521 may contain certainlicensed content or characters. If the user selects a sticker 521 whichis not free, a message will pop-up indicating that there is a costassociated with the sticker along with the actual cost. If the user optsto purchase the sticker 521, he/she must involve a parent/adult tocomplete the purchase. An “eraser” icon 52J is available so that theuser may easily clear any unwanted hand-draw art. The eraser 52J doesnot erase parts of stamps 52N, stickers 521, text 52L or photos 52M. Anyof the tools 52 located on the tools carousel 52 can be used on any ofthe first P1, second P2 or third page P3 of the blank greeting card 50.On the back cover or last page P4 of the greeting card 50, shown in FIG.10, the phrase “Made by” appears in an text box 60, after which the usermay enter his/her name to further personalize the greeting card 50. Asmentioned above with the “Pick-a-Card” 12 option, a series of icons isavailable across the top of the screen while the user is editing the“Make-a-Card” greeting card 50. The user can delete the entire card byselecting the “trash” icon 38. Selecting the “trash” icon 38 will prompta message box asking the user if he/she is sure he/she wants to deletethe current card. The user may also undo a previous action by selectingthe “undo” or “back” arrow icon 62. The user may also save his/her workby selecting the “save” disk icon 40 or he/she may zoom the particularpage by selecting the “zoom” magnifying glass icon 42. Once the user issatisfied with his/her work, the “done” icon 46 may be selected. Oncethe “done” icon 46 has been selected, the user is automatically directedto the “Cars Ready to Send” 14 screen wherein the completed greetingcard 50, along with any other saved (but not yet sent) greeting cardswill appear.

Saving Customized Greeting Cards

Once a greeting card 20 or 50, whether made from scratch or from anexisting template, is saved by the user, the completed card is visiblefrom the “Cards Ready to Send” 14 screen, which is accessible throughthe main menu. If the “saved card” area is empty, the user is encouragedto make a greeting card and given the option to “Make a New Card” 10 or“Pick a Card” 12. If there are saved cards 20 or 50, the front page P1of each saved card 20 or 50 is shown on this screen, as shown in FIG.11. Tapping on the front face P1 of one of the completed cards 20 or 50,brings up the front face P1 of the greeting card 20 or 50 along with a“trash can” icon 38 wherein the user can delete the greeting card 20 or50, a “pencil” icon 62 wherein the user can edit the saved greeting card20 or 50, and the “mailbox” icon 64 wherein the user can initiate thesend process. The user may store up to “X” completed greeting cards 20or 50.

Sending a Customized Greeting Card

As discussed in further detail below, once a child user has created acustomized greeting card and is ready to send said card to a recipient,he/she must involve his/her parent or an adult to further accomplishthis task. For example, if the child user taps on the “send” mailboxicon, he/she will be prompted to get his/her parent to complete themailing process, as shown in FIG. 12.

Send Options

The user (parent/adult) has the option of sending the child's customizedgreeting card 20 or 50 to a physical facility which is operative toreceive, print and mail the customized greeting card 20 or 50 to theintended recipient. The user may alternatively opt to send an electronicversion of the child's customized greeting card via SMS text message,email or to post the greeting card to a social media website, such asFacebook® or Twitter®. The electronic version of the greeting card mayalso be sent to a photo finishing website, such as Snapfish® orShutterfly®. Another available option is for the user to send thecustomized greeting card 20 or 50 to a local retail store for printingand pickup. In this case, the user may enter his/her zip code to view alist of nearby retail locations with the print and pickup service.

“where's My Card?”

Once a greeting card has been sent to a recipient, by including a parentor other adult in completing the send process, discussed in detailbelow, the user may visit the “Where's My Card?” screen via the mainmenu, as shown in FIG. 13. The “Where's My Card’ screen is a visual wayfor a child to understand the stage of the printing/mailing process inwhich their greeting card is currently located. For example, a visualpath is shown between “sending” the greeting card and having thegreeting card “delivered” to the recipient. For each “sent” greetingcard, a child can visit this page to watch how each greeting card isprogressing through the send/print/mail/deliver process. This optionwill only appear in the application if there are cards to be mailed to arecipient.

Parental/Adult Participation

While a child may open the greeting card application and create agreeting card (whether by picking a greeting card template 20 or bycreating a greeting card from scratch 50), parental or adultparticipation is necessary for the child to actually order and send,print or mail a greeting card 20 or 50. A “parental gateway” (alsoreferred to herein interchangeably as “authentication gateway”)separates the child-enabled portions of the application from the order,payment and mailing process. The “parental gateway” on the applicationassumes that a child is of an age that he/she may be unable to read. Inorder to reach the order and payment screen, the application asks theuser to perform some non-common function or gesture, such as, forexample, swipe from left to right using two fingers or swipe right withthree fingers, as shown in FIG. 14. The actions requested by theapplication frequently change so that a child cannot memorize theaction.

Once the parent or adult has entered through the “parental gateway”,he/she may decide to “take a tour” of the application, especially if itis his/her first time using the application. The “take a tour” optionwill guide the adult user through a series of screens to show thevarious capabilities and options provided by the application. Textinstruction or descriptions may also appear on the screen. Once the userhas completed the “take a tour” option, or if he/she bypasses thisoption, he/she must sign in to the application or if it is the firsttime ordering greeting cards through the application, he/she must createan account, as shown in FIG. 15. The account creation process begins byentering a unique email address 66 and password 68. Once the uniqueemail address 66 and password 68 are established, the adult must furtherprovide the application with a first name, last name, and birthday. Theuser has the option of allowing the application to use the providedemail address to send emails and updates relating to the application.For security reasons, adults/parents are required to re-authenticate orprovide login credentials each time they access the parental dashboard(discussed in further detail below). Also, the application may requirere-authentication after inactivity for a pre-determined amount of time.

The adult user has the option of sending his/her child's greeting card20 or 50 electronically via email to a recipient or to order one or morecopies of the greeting card 20 or 50 and have them sent either tothemselves, whereby they can personally mail or deliver said card, orhave the application mail the greeting card 20 or 50 directly to thespecified recipient(s). If the user decides to have the greeting card 20or 50 mailed out by the application, the application sends a digitalfile containing the customized greeting card 20 or 50 to a fulfillmentcenter which receives, prints and mails out the greeting card(s). Thephysical product that is printed at the fulfillment center is made withthe same quality of store bought greeting cards.

The authorization required to print and send a selected personalizedgreeting card to a provided recipient address via the U.S. PostalService is, as a precaution, set to “no” as the default selection 70, asshown in FIG. 16. This requires the adult-user to actively change the“no” to “yes” to have the select greeting card 20 or 50 mail to theprovided recipient. The adult-user must then provide both the sender 72and the recipient 74 addresses, as shown in FIG. 17. This may beprovided manually by typing the addresses 72, 74 into the application orthe addresses 72, 74 may alternatively be selected from the adult-user'scontacts or from the adult-user's address book created on theCardstore.com website. Addresses selected from My Contacts or Cardstoreaddress book may be edited once they are imported to the application.The adult-user may be prompted to add the edited changes to theCardstore address book. The application will notify the adult-user ofany errors in the provided address and allow the adult-user to correctsaid errors. Once any address errors have been corrected, the adult-userwill receive an order summary 76, including the cost and also providethe adult-user with the option to add and apply a promotional code, asshown in FIG. 18. Once the application has determined that the providedaddresses and optional promotional codes contain no errors, theadult-user is then prompted to enter payment information 78, shown inFIG. 19. The adult-user has the option of saving entered credit cardinformation for later use. Whether or not provided credit cardinformation is saved for later use, once the credit card information isdetermined to be error-free, the user is then prompted to submitpayment. After payment is submitted, a confirmation email is sent to theprovided email address. The adult-user may the return to the applicationhome screen or to the “Where's My Card” 16 screen, as described above.

A parent dashboard 80 is available to view order history 80A, view andedit account information 80B; and view, edit and add to saved payments80C. If the adult-user has previously ordered greeting cards through theapplication, the order history 80A will show the front face P1 of eachpreviously ordered greeting card 20 or 50 along with the order number,send date, recipient, price and status (sent, delivered, etc.), as shownin FIG. 20. The adult-user may also view and update account settings 82including adjusting the application volume 82A; turn application soundeffects on/off 82B; turn voiceover on/off 82C; view the applicationprivacy policy 82D; view the application terms and conditions 82E; viewapplication information 82F and/or frequently asked questions 82G; orsign in/out of account 82H, as shown in FIG. 21.

Hardware/Software

Once the application is downloaded to a portable computing device, theapp provides a system for merchandising and delivery greeting cards(both physical and electronic). FIG. 22 depicts a flow diagram of thisexemplary system environment 100 for electronically merchandising anddelivering greeting card content over the internet, consistent with theexemplary methods described herein. In one embodiment, the systemenvironment 100 may include, but is not limited to: a contentmerchandising system 110, a content delivery platform (not shown), acloud service system 120 and a plurality of portable computing devices130.

The content merchandising system 110 may consist of any number ofcomputers or serves that the merchandiser uses to program and createelectronic and physical greeting card templates and card categories tobe downloaded to users' portable computing devices. The content deliveryplatform is the software platform which enables the content merchandiserto program and create electronic greeting cards and card categories tobe downloaded to the users' portable computing devices. A contentmerchandiser may include the owner/host/provider of the app or a thirdparty provider which provides content, such as card categories orgreeting card templates, to the owner/host/provider for use in thecontent merchandising system 110. A cloud service system 120 is acollection of servers, including web servers 125.

Using the content merchandising system 110, a content merchandiserprograms card categories and electronic greeting card templates into thecontent delivery platform. Programming card categories may include, butare not limited to: creating new card categories, deleting existing cardcategories, and modifying existing card categories. Categories maycorrespond to birthdays, anniversaries, or any other type of holidays orevents. Similarly, programming electronic greeting cards may include,but is not limited to: creating new greeting card templates, deletingexisting greeting card templates, and modifying existing greeting cardtemplates. After the card categories and/or greeting card templates areprogrammed into the content delivery platform, the changes 140 arepropagated or transmitted into the cloud service system 120. Changes 140include any edits, updates, deletions and additional to the cardcategories and/or greeting card templates. The cloud service system 120may include or interact with a plurality of web servers 125 that aredisposed in communication with the system environment 100.

A plurality of portable computing devices 130 with the downloaded appmonitor the cloud service system 120 for changes 140. Once changes 140are recognized by the plurality of portable computing devices 130, anyof said devices 130 request the changes 140 from the cloud servicesystem 120. Depending on the type of portable computing device 130,making the request for changes 140, an Application Programming Interface(API) 160 of the content delivery platform serves up or transmitschanges 140 that correspond to the type of portable computing device 130making the request. The changes 140 are stored in the portable computingdevice 130 local cache 150 for later use. Local cache 150 in eachportable computing device may assist in reducing network bandwidth,improving User Interface (UI) responsiveness, enabling offline usage andpreserving battery life. When the app is loaded initially, the app willdownload a content catalog and card content through the API 160. The appalso requests card content for new categories and cards based onrespective device screen sizes and resolutions (i.e., pixel density).The API 160 provides a nearest match for the requested sizes, so thatresources for a particular tablet computer, for example, will servelarger or smaller content than resources for other smaller or largerscreened devices. In one embodiment, subsequent for the content changes140 are then made by comparison to the applicable local cache 150, eachtime checking whether the existing content has changed. If the cache haschanged, before downloaded the new changes, the app will check with theserver whether or not the content has been modified. This validationstep helps to prevent unnecessary requests for redundant data. Inanother embodiment, subsequent requests for the content changes 140 aremade to the API 160 without first checking for changes to the existingcontent in the local cache 150. Here, new content is simply requestedfrom the API 160, and any new content provided therein by the API 160 iscached in the local cache 150.

On the back end of the application, once a user has created andfinalized a customized greeting card, the system is configured to send arendering of the greeting card to be printed and mailed to the intendedrecipient. This configuration includes a system of hardware and software(both physical and virtual) which is logically separated into a clientapplication, which includes, but is not limited to: one or more webservers, one or more application servers per step (for example, ProductRendering 210 and Product Submit 220, each being a step), and facilitiescapable of generating physical custom greeting cards. In one embodiment,shown in FIG. 23, user-created designs captured on the electronic device230, consisting of but not limited to images and text data, arecommunicated over a network to one or more web servers via anApplication Programming Interface (API) 260. The application utilizesany network capabilities supported by the computing device. The webservers 240 communicate these designs to the Product Rendering Service210. The Product Rendering Service 210, itself running on one or moreapplication servers, converts the design into a specific layout ofproper alignment and quality to be printed as a physical greeting card.The layout is then communicated to the Order Submit Service 220. TheOrder Submit Service 220, itself running on one or more applicationservers, converts the card design output from the Product RenderingService 210 into a format compatible with the Print Facility 250. ThePrint Facility uses the data from the Order Submit Service 220 to printhigh quality greeting cards based on the user-created designs from thecomputing device.

User Operation and Flow of App

FIG. 24 shows a user flow diagram which outlines the user experience 300when interacting with the app. The home screen 310 is the hub for theentire app experience and where all “roads” lead from and eventuallyback to. The home screen options will focus on the primary activities ofthe app, namely, “Make-a-Card” 320 (3 fully customizable blank pages)and “Pick-a-Card” 330 (greeting card template with customization areas),with access to “Cards Ready to Send” 340 (provides access to each savedgreeting card). The home screen (as well as all other app screens) alsoprovides a banner along the top of the screen which provides access to ahelp menu (onboarding experience, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)regarding how to interaction with the application) and a global settingsmenu (control basic app settings such as volume, background music, andvoiceover options, privacy policy, terms of service, feedback andinformation about the app). The home screen also include access pointsto “Make-a-Card” 320, “Pick-a-Card” 330, “Cards Ready to Send” 340,“Where's My Card” 350 and the “Parental Dashboard” 360. Also, the firstthe time app is launched after install, users will be prompted to take atour of the application. This will be repeatable via the global helpsettings 370.

The “Pick-a-Card” 330 option provides a plurality of greeting cardtemplates having various customization areas. The greeting cardtemplates are located on a carousel that can be browsed with the swipeof a finger. If the user selects a category from the smaller carouselbelow, then the main content area will be refreshed with cards from onlythat category, and the label at the top will show the category name.This screen also allows the user to choose (filter) card choices basedon pre-defined categories such as holiday, occasion, event, or person(family/friend). When a category is selected, the cards for thatcategory appear in the main content area above. Each of the pre-designedgreeting cards in each category allow for various levels ofcustomization based on the pre-defined templates. Customization optionsinclude, but are not limited to: adding customized text via a keyboard,uploading a personal photo, and adding a digital signature.

The “Make-a-Card” 320 option provides the user with the ability tocreate a fully customizable greeting card wherein three (3) pages of afour (4) page greeting card are blank and fully customizable by theuser. The “tools” and “colors” area of the “Make-a-Card” 320 screenprovide most of the user functionality. The tool and color selection area two-step process whereby only the “tools” tray is visible until theuser selects a tool. Once a tool is selected, the tray changes to offera series of that selected tool in a plurality of different colors. Toolsinclude, but are not limited to: crayons, markers, colored pencils,paint brushes (large and small), watercolors, spray paint, chalk, rubberstamps (pre-set size), stickers (including message stickers with pre-setsize), picture frames, photo inserts, insert text box (pre-set fonts andcolors). An “eraser” icon only clears hand-drawn art and does not eraseparts of stamps, stickers, text or photos.

The “Cards Ready to Send” 340 screen provides access to each savedgreeting card. Tapping on a card in this view brings up the card inpreview. The user can delete a card from this screen by tapping the“trash can” icon. Users will be asked to confirm this action prior todeletion. Users can also opt to edit or send the greeting card. Tappingthe “send” icon will alert the user (kids) that parents (adults) areneeded to proceed. In order to send the card, the user will be forced tothe password-protected “Authentication Gateway” 380, described infurther detail below.

The “Preview Card” 390 screen appears whenever a user opts to edit apreviously saved greeting card. The selected card appears on the screenalong with a “trash can” icon wherein the user can delete the greetingcard, a “pencil” icon wherein the user can edit the greeting card, and a“mailbox icon” wherein the user can send the greeting card. As mentionedabove, if a child selects the send option, he/she will be alerted that aparent/adult is needed to proceed. The parent/adult is then prompted tologin to the application using his/her email and password.

The “Where's My Card” 350 screen allows the user to check the status ofhis/her sent card. Cards that have been “sent” will appear in asingle-row carousel so that the user can see the order status of any ofthe cards in process. Because the API does not provide a status after“shipped”, based on a pre-determined time lapse, the card will movethrough the ordering sequence. Fun visuals will help the user (child)know if the card has been sent or not, is in processing, being shippedor suspected to have been delivered. Only one card is able to be trackedat a time. The selected card's visual state will change to indicatewhich card is being tracked. Cards will be removed from this screenunder two conditions: the parent (adult) trashes the card in the “Readyto Send” 360D screen on the “Parent Dashboard” 360; or after thirty (30)days from the day the parent sends the card. Parents (adults) will beable to access the “Send a Card” 400 feature from behind the“Authentication Gateway” 380 which is not accessible by the child.

The “Global Settings” 370 page allows access to various app controlssuch as volume control, sound effect and voice over on/off options, theapp privacy policy, terms and conditions, information about the app, anoption to provide feedback regarding the app, and an option to sign intothe app.

The “Authentication Gateway” 380 is the area of the app beyond whichuser login is required. Existing customers will be prompted for sign ininformation and new customers will be prompted to register. Baselineregistration information may include email address, password, andbirthday. Users under the age of thirteen (13) will not be permitted toregister for an account. Once a user is logged into the app, they canproceed to the “Parent Dashboard” 360 screen or they may opt to “Sent aCard” 400 including entering payment information and recipient addressinformation.

The “Parent Dashboard” 360 is available behind the “AuthenticationGateway” 380 for registered users. This screen provides the user(parent/adult) with the ability to update customer or accountinformation 360A, change notification settings, view order history 360Band saved payment data, edit cards and view cards which are ready tosend. The “Ready to Send” 360D area of the “Parent Dashboard” 360displays a collection of cards that the child user has selected to“send”.

The “Send a Card” 400 screen is accessible beyond the “AuthenticationGateway” 380 for registered users to select a card which is ready tosend. As mentioned above, users must login to the app using theircredentials. New users will be prompted to create an account. Beforesending a card, the user must acknowledge that the card they aresubmitting is correct and ready for printing.

The foregoing embodiments of the present invention have been presentedfor the purposes of illustration and description. These descriptions andembodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the inventionto the precise form disclosed, and obviously many modifications andvariations are possible in light of the above disclosure. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciple of the invention and its practical applications to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in itsvarious embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. It is intended that the invention bedefined by the following claims.

1. An electronic greeting card system including an applicationdownloadable to a portable computing device comprising: a server; anelectronic greeting card application program that is downloaded to theportable computing device from the server; the electronic greeting cardapplication having a plurality of greeting card templates forcustomization by a user, at least one page of the plurality of greetingcard templates being completely blank; a plurality of electronic drawingtools contained within the electronic greeting card application, each ofthe plurality of electronic drawing tools operative to be selected by atap of a user's finger upon the touch screen of the portable computingdevice above one of a plurality of icons representing each of theplurality of electronic drawing tools; wherein once a user has selectedone of the plurality of electronic drawing tools, the user may customizethe greeting card by drawing or writing on the touch screen of theportable computing device above the electronic greeting card template.2. The electronic greeting card system of claim 1, wherein once a userhas customized and saved one of the plurality of greeting cardtemplates, the user may order and purchase a physical copy of thecustomized greeting cards.
 3. The electronic greeting card system ofclaim 1, wherein the system is further operable to electronically send arendering of a saved customized greeting card template to a printfacility for printing a physical copy of the customized greeting card.4. The electronic greeting card system of claim 3, wherein a user canchoose to pick up the physical copy of the customized greeting card atthe print facility.
 5. The electronic greeting card system of claim 3,wherein a user can choose to have the print facility mail the physicalcopy of the greeting card to a recipient.
 6. The electronic greetingcard system of claim 1, wherein the electronic drawing tools areselected from the following: a pencil, a crayon, a marker, a paintbrush,a piece of chalk, a sticker, and a stamper.
 7. The electronic greetingcard system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of greeting card templatesare operative to accept a user photo to be displayed thereon.
 8. Anelectronic greeting card system comprising: a server; an electronicgreeting card application downloadable from the server to a portablecomputing device having a touch screen thereon; the electronic greetingcard application operative to provide both pre-designed greeting cardtemplates with one or more areas which can be customized by a user withtext, photographs, and/or a digital signature and also blank greetingcard templates which can be completely customized by a user with text,drawings, and/or photographs; wherein the pre-designed and blankgreeting card templates are customizable through user interaction withthe touch screen of the portable computing device; and wherein physicalprinted copies of a customized pre-designed and blank greeting cardtemplates can be purchased and mailed to one or more recipients fromwithin the electronic greeting card application.
 9. The electronicgreeting card system of claim 8, wherein the blank greeting cardtemplates are customizable with a plurality of electronic drawing toolsavailable from within the electronic greeting card application.
 10. Theelectronic greeting card system of claim 9, wherein the plurality ofelectronic drawing tools include a pencil, a crayon, a marker, apaintbrush, a piece of chalk, a sticker and a stamper.
 11. Theelectronic greeting card system of claim 9, wherein the user may selectto use one of the plurality of electronic drawing tools by tapping onone of a plurality of icons representing each of the plurality ofelectronic drawing tools.
 12. The electronic greeting card system ofclaim 8, wherein each greeting card template contains four pages. 13.The electronic greeting card system of claim 8, wherein each page ofeach of the greeting card templates is electronically movable by a userby a touch of a finger.
 14. The electronic greeting card system of claim8, wherein the electronic greeting card application contains safeguardswhich prevent a child user from ordering or purchasing a physical copyof a customized greeting card without parental consent or participation.15. A method for creating a physical customized greeting card fromwithin a mobile application comprising the steps of: downloading anelectronic greeting card application to a mobile computing device with atouch screen; selecting a greeting card having at least three completelyblank pages operable to be fully customized by a user; selecting one ofa plurality of electronic drawing tools by tapping one's finger on anicon representing said selected drawing tool; selecting one of aplurality of colors of the selected one of the plurality of electronicdrawing tools by tapping one's finger on an icon representing saidselected color; using one's finger to draw or write or tap upon one ormore of the at least three completely blank pages of the greeting card;wherein one may iterate through the at least three completely blankpages by swiping one's finger to the left or to the right or by tappingon left and right arrows on the touch screen; saving the customizedgreeting card; providing greeting card recipient name and addressinformation to the electronic greeting card application; providingpayment information to the electronic greeting card information; whereinthe electronic greeting card application will process said recipientname and address and payment information and send a rendering of theuser's customized greeting card to a print facility which will print aphysical copy of the customized greeting card and mail said customizedgreeting card to the recipient name and address provided by the user.16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of adding a nameto a fourth partially customizable page of the greeting card.
 17. Themethod of claim 15 further comprising the step of providing user emailand password information prior to providing the greeting card recipientname and address information.
 18. A system for electronic creation of aphysical greeting card comprising: at least one server accessible via acomputer network, the at least one server having data thereon defining ablank greeting card template having four pages wherein three of the fourpages are completely blank and a plurality of electronic drawing tools;a mobile computing device for accessing the at least one server; amobile application downloaded from the at least one server to the mobiledevice, the mobile application providing access to the data on the atleast one server; wherein a user may fully customize the blank greetingcard template by using one's finger to interact with the blank greetingcard template and the plurality of electronic drawing tools throughmobile application via a touch screen on the mobile device; and whereinthe user may order and purchase a physical copy of the fully customizedrepresentation of the blank greeting card template from within themobile application and have it printed and mailed to a specifiedrecipient from a remote location.
 19. The system of claim 18, whereinthe user may choose to send an electronic version of the fullycustomized representation of the blank greeting card template to arecipient via SMS text message or email, or to post the electronicversion onto a social media website.
 20. The system of claim 18, whereinthe mobile application also provides the option to select a pre-designedgreeting card template having one or more areas which can be customizedby a user.